Deer And Fishcakes
by deerandfishcakes7726
Summary: What if Naruto was taken in by a clan? The genius clan?
1. Chapter 1

Deer and Fishcakes

Chapter 1: Shikaku's Discovery

It had been a month since Minato's death at the hands of the Kyuubi. The Sandaime had pulled all of the Jonins of the village into a meeting room to tell them that the Yondaime had sealed it into a baby boy, Naruto.

Yet, most Jonins, filled with hate, refused to let the baby boy have a chance. They wanted to kill the little boy, incorrectly assuming the boy was the Kyuubi.

Hair in a pineapple shape, Nara Shikaku, wearing his usual Jonin vest and black pants, sat at his desk, sipping his tea. Since the death of so many Jonins, his work had piled up. The Sandaime now wanted to have everyone fulfill a few missions for rebuilding purposes. Feeling the new scar he had on his face, he thought back to that day.

He had been walking with his friends Akimichi Chouza, with his bushy hair, and Yamanaka Inoichi, with his ponytail that made him look like a girl, and, all of a sudden, a big chakra signature ignited the forest to the west. Immediately, they raced there, and stood at the front lines to stall the Kyuubi, at least until the Yondaime had gotten there. He remembered the looks of fear on everyone there, but everyone fought bravely. Now, there were over 100 ninjas were dead, another 300 wounded, and a whole village of fear.

He blamed himself for the Yondaime's death. If he had just broken his own limits, he would have saved so much without crippling the village. But, that blame was needless, as his newborn son Shikamaru had been born, two months earlier. He would need Shikaku to teach him the clan's secrets.

Something troubled him. Who were Naruto's parents? The Sandaime had refused to tell them. He had searched the entire village to see the people listed in the hospital to have a birth due on October 10th. No one with blond hair and blue eyes. If the baby had blue eyes, the parents had to have blue eyes. Same with the blond hair.

Then, he suddenly realized. The Yondaime and his wife both had blue eyes. They both died on that day, and Kushina had been due on that day...

Possibly...

He sent a pigeon to the Sandaime asking about that little question, and the Sandaime answered with a resounding "Yes".

He sent another pigeon to the Sandaime, calling for a Jonin meeting with the counsel. He would tell the village his revelations...

The next day, the many Jonin packed the meeting room as the Sandaime walked up onto the podium. As soon as the many people got quiet, the Sandaime said, "Today, I would like to talk about the situation with our new Jinchuuriki. I would like Nara Shikaku to come up here to speak to us."

The ninjas' interest grew as Shikaku stepped onto the stage. He began with a lazy "Hi." The rest of the room laughed as he began his speech. "Lots of us, excluding Hokage-sama and maybe the Yondaime's close ones, have wondered who are the parents of our new Jinchuuriki Naruto Uzumaki. All of us would be interested to know. But, instead of wheedling it out of Hokage-sama, I found his parents by searching the hospital records and my own friendship of the two. In fact, they died together on the battlefield after the Kyuubi was sealed, the father dying after sealing the Kyuubi, the mother after being in labor pains and after having the Kyuubi extracted, both with a huge wound in their chests. Yes, you may have guessed it - Naruto's parents are the Yondaime Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. In fact his proper name should be Namikaze Naruto."

All of the eyes turned to look at the Sandaime. He shrugged and said, "It's true."

A voice pierced through the gasps, and Danzo stood up. "If his father is the Yondaime, then we should train him. He could be the next great ninja."

The Sandaime said, "I agree, so, I will find someone to train him. However, I believe that he should not be given unfair advantages. He will have to have the truth of his birth hidden from him so as to keep his ego small. In fact, also the Kyuubi. So, treat him like any other boy. He will also have to have an ordinary upbringing. So, is there anyone in this room that will take him in?"

Shikaku raised his hand, and he looked around to see Inoichi, Chouza, Hatake Kakashi, Might Gai, Uchiha Fugaku, and Hyuuga Hiashi raise their own hands. Their hands formed an island in the sea of Jonins as they sat in the clan head section.

The Sandaime said, "I'm going to decide to ... allow Naruto to choose for himself when he is 5 years old. In the meantime, Fugaku, you will take care of him."

The other 6 Jonins sighed. Kakashi had wanted to take care of his Sensei's son. Chouza, Inoichi, Shukaku, and Hiashi had wanted to have another son to have for their own children to play with. Might Gai wanted to make Naruto very "Youthful." Fugaku grinned at the fact that he could have his wife's friend's son, and a potential weapon.

Four years, almost five, later, Naruto's blond puff of hair contrasted with the Uchiha's head's family's as they stood for a portrait. The picture now sat on the table in the living room.

In the dining room, Fugaku, Mikoto, and Itachi sat on one side. Sasuke and Naruto sat on the other side. Itachi had just passed the Chuunin exams today, and so, they were having a dinner of more classy foods than the normal fish and rice.

Sasuke looked up and initiated the conversation. "Itachi, I've decided to become a ninja as great as you, Itachi!"

Naruto burst out, "I'll be better than you, Sasuke!"

The adults laughed as Naruto and Sasuke began their argument.

Both had played their trump cards. While both were capable enough to shoot huge fireballs via the Grand Fireball Technique, Sasuke could brag about his Uchiha clan crest, while Naruto could talk about his huge variety of wind and fire Jutsu, having learned wind from the Sandaime. The day that he found out that he could use wind was a surprise.

He had been called to the Sandaime's office, and had to sneeze violently. He grabbed a random piece of paper to blow his nose. As soon as he made all of the gooey stuff come out, the paper ripped in half perfectly. The Sandaime had widened his eyes just a little. And he told Naruto, "We're going to have to teach you a lot of things."

They had gone through chakra control. Naruto took three days to master walking up trees. They moved onto walking on water. Naruto took five days. Everything the Sandaime taught, Naruto learned by doing it over and over again. By now, Naruto was using Jutsus like Fuuton: Vacuum Wave Jutsu and Fuuton: Cutting Winds.

Back at the present, Fugaku looked at Naruto with worry, as there was one more week until his fifth birthday and time to choose who he wanted to stay with for the rest of his childhood. He remembered the conversation that the Sandaime had with Naruto.

"Naruto, for the past few years, you have been living with Sasuke and Itachi, and their family. But, although you may believe, you are not a Uchiha."

Naruto had bugged his eyes out in surprise. And the cheerful smile on his face had been wiped off his face. "We have six families who want to adopt you. Your parents are dead, and so, you have to choose."

"Who... are th-they?"

"We will tell you when you are old enough."

Naruto's cheerful smile hid the sadness that he felt. He was going to stay with six different families for six weeks. And there was a week left to pack. But, he would learn to adapt to this situation, and all of the future situations, too. He inner-smiled as he remembered Fugaku's lesson: you must always learn to be the best. It corresponded with his hope of Hokage.

A week later, Naruto sat inside Kakashi's house, which was lonely. The Jonin was outside training, having introduced himself by only mentioning his name and nothing else. When the Sandaime had walked in with Naruto on his fifth birthday, Kakashi had looked up from his "book."

The Sandaime introduced him to Kakashi as one of the top Jonin of the village. Naruto had been surprised, and asked, "This lazy guy reading those Icha Icha books is one of the top? Hell, I'm surprised you guys, who read those pervert books, are strong!"

The Sandaime appeared to be very calm on the outside. Kakashi then went outside to escape any more criticism. The Sandaime left, walked into his office across the village, and burned the Icha Icha books in his left side drawer.

While Naruto sat inside, he wondered at the many blades that Kakashi had. Looking outside, he saw a lightning bolt around Kakashi's right hand, and he realized that Kakashi was training to make his spatial chakra better.

He watched as Kakashi flipped through the hand seals yet again, and then imitated Kakashi. All of a sudden, his hand was covered with lightning and Kakashi heard the sound of another Chidori. It couldn't be... No one else knew the technique, and so he rushed inside the house, concerned about Naruto.

When he stepped into Naruto's room, he saw that the boy's hand was covered in lightning, and it looked exactly like Kakashi's. Size. Color. Everything.

That week turned into a big tutoring session. Naruto was constantly asking questions in his super loud voice. And he constantly got answers. He learned some more lightning Jutsu, and saw Kakashi's eye.

As soon as Naruto stepped out of the house, Kakashi felt a pang of sadness. It would be five more weeks before Naruto made his decision.

Naruto had liked Kakashi and his laziness, the amount of Jutsu he knew, and the gravity-defying gray hair that Kakashi sported. His tardiness was great, but Naruto wanted a motherly figure as well. He hoped he could find that in the Akimichi household.

The Sandaime picked him up, and walked across the village with him to a huge house in the middle of the food district. The Sandaime then left, and Naruto walked up the front steps.

Stepping into the house, he saw Chouji's mother, a nice, homely woman and dropped in to say hello. She looked up and said, "Oh, you must be staying here for the next week."

"What's your name?"

"My name is Kamena. Yours?"

"My name's Naruto! Believe it!"

She reached out and helped him take his luggage into his designated room. Outside, Chouza and his son, Chouji, were picnicking in the sunlight. "You may go out and join them if you wish, Naruto."

Naruto ran through the house and jumped outside to join the Akimichis in their picnic, only to find hat they had already eaten a large basket of food. Naruto asked Chouji, "What's your name?"

Chouji said, "My name is Chouji Akimichi. What's yours?"

Chouza said, "This is Naruto Namikaze and he'll be staying with us for a week. My name's Chouza, by the way."

For an entire week, Chouza and Chouji ate and ate food, while Naruto talked with Chouji's mother a lot. Chouza went on missions every once in a while, but it wasn't significant.

When he stepped out the door, Naruto reflected upon the week. All Chouza and Chouji did was lay back and relax, and he had really wanted to learn things.

Chouza looked at the figure walking with the Sandaime. There would be four more weeks before he made his decisions.

An hour later, Naruto walked into a flower shop. "Hey old man, what are we doing in a flower shop?"

"Because this is where the Yamanakas live."

A few seconds later, the sounds of someone rushing down the stairs reached their ears as a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes ran into the room. She looked at the Sandaime and her eyes dropped to see Naruto. Her eyes lit up and she yelled, "Mom, dad, it's the boy who's living with us for a while!"

Inoich and his wife walked down the they came into the room, they said, "Hokage-sama, thank you for bringing us Naruto. Hello, Naruto, my name is Inoichi. My wife is named Hinabi. Say hi to Naruto, Ino."

Ino said, "Hi, Naruto."

Naruto replied, "Hello Ino. Hello Inoichi, Hinabi."

The Sandaime walked out, and Naruto yelled after him, "Bye, old man!"

Ino asked, "Why do you call him old man?"

Naruto said, "'Cause he's old, and he reads really perverted books while he's supposed to be paperwork."

Inoichi and Hinabi looked at him in surprise. "How do you know?"

"'Cause I set up cameras in his room to see what he's doing. He's always reading those books, and giggling like a little girl."

Ino said, "Wow, how'd you do that?"

"Easy, I sneak into the Hokage tower every night to look around, and one day, I just put in some cameras."

Inoichi said, "It's a bad thing to do to break into the Hokage tower."

"I really want to become Hokage and beat my idol, the Yondaime! Believe it! That's why I figured I needed to see what Hokages do all day. All the Sandaime does so far is do stupid paperwork..."

"Well, that is pretty important. If the Hokage doesn't do it, who does?"

"Well, then,... I'll tell other people to do it for me while I eat ramen! Believe it!"

A week later, Naruto looked back upon the many conversations with Inoichi. They talked about many things, and Naruto had come to like him a lot. But, the girl was always being boisterous.

A knock of the door alerted him that the Sandaime was here. He rushed to the door and found a man in a kimono with white pupils in his eyes looking down at him.

Naruto said, "Who are you? How may I help you? With flowers?"

The man grinned and said, "My name is Hyuuga Hiashi, and I would like to get Namikaze Naruto."

"That's me!"

"Okay. Get Inoichi for me."

"Sure thing, mister!"

He ran upstairs and tapped Inoichi's arm. "Some guy named Hiashi is here to talk to you!"

Inoichi walked downstairs with Naruto to find the Hyuuga head sitting at a table. He said, "Hiashi, I'm guessing you are here for Naruto?"

"Yes. But there is something else. The Hokage has set a law that stops anyone from saying the Yondaime's name. If caught, the guilty goes to jail for twelve years."

"Yes, Hiashi-sama."

"Now then, Naruto, let us go."

Naruto walked with him and asked him things like "Hey, why are your eyes all white?" and "Why are you wearing a kimono?", etc.

When they got to the Hyuuga estate, Naruto gazed in wonder at the sheer size. It was even bigger than the Uchiha compounds.

Hiashi said, "Big, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"I take it that you are comparing it to the homes you've seen before. This house is different."

"Well, of course!"

Hiashi led him to the gates, and the Hyuuga gatekeepers let them in.

"Are you like the best ninja in the Hyuuga?"

The succinctness of the question hit Hiashi. He said, "No. I cannot claim that. But, since I am the oldest of the current leading generation, I am the clan head."

"So, what do the other people in your generation do?"

"Well, for starters, I become part of the main house of the Hyuuga, while they become part of the branches that support the main house. They are all ninjas, too, so they are bound to duty for Konoha, but I can tell them to do anything while they are in our estate."

"Wow... That makes you seem like a Hokage over your family."

"Everyone in Konoha is family to the Hokage."

"Oh... never thought of it that way."

Hiashi led him into the big doors leading into the house. As Naruto stepped inside, he saw a copy of Hiashi. He said, "Umm, how'd you get in front of me so fast?"

The man smiled and said, "Are you the one that my twin is escorting home today?"

"Oh... so you're twins with Hiashi?"

"Yeah." The voice said behind him said.

He turned around, and saw Hiashi. He looked back at the other man and said, "Wow. I didn't know there was such a thing as twins."

"My name is Hizashi. What is your name?"

"My name is Naruto and I'll be the next Hokage! Believe it! Except I don't really want to do paperwork..."

The twins chuckled as two kids came in, a boy and a girl, both with hair and eyes exactly like Hiashi and Hizashi.

The boy piped up and said, "Father, who is this?"

Hizashi said, "This is Naruto Namikaze. He'll be staying with us for a week."

"Hello Naruto. My name is Neji. This is Hinata. Her father is Hiashi-sama."

"H-h-hi N-n-naruto."

Naruto looked at the two and said, "Hey, want to see something?"

The two nodded and Neji said, "How about you show us in the courtyard?"

The three dashed to the courtyard. Hizashi and Hiashi looked at them with wonder as they had become friends in less than three minutes.

In the courtyard, Naruto said, "There's this cool new thing I learned from Kakashi!"

"Who's Kakashi?" Neji said.

"He is a Jonin I met."

"Oh... So show us."

"Okay."

Naruto made a few hand seals, and said, "Chidori! 1000 birds!"

As the crackling thunder surrounded his left hand, Hiashi and Hizashi ran into the courtyard at top speed only to find that it wasn't an assassin, but instead Naruto. Hinata and Neji were in awe as Naruto ran around slamming his left arm into dummies.

Hizashi took one look and said, "That is Kakashi's technique, you realize that, right, Naruto?"

"Yeah!"

"But, you do realize that when you're using it, you go so fast that you cannot counter the opponent's attack?"

"Yeah. I found a way around that. See, I don't run that fast, and so, I don't have problems like that. But, in combat, I can also completely silence the chirping." With "silence", Naruto's left hand stopped giving out sounds.

"Yes, those are very good ways to complete your technique. But, in a fight, you still need to be very fast."

"No biggie, I'll just work on it later! Believe it!"

Neji and Hinata quickly became friends with Naruto. Before, Naruto could count with his right hand to find the number of friends he had. Now, he needed both hands. Sasuke, Itachi, Chouji, Kakashi, Shisui, Neji, and, of course, Hinata. Maybe Ino.

A week quickly passed in the huge mansion. Before long, Naruto was standing at the gates with many of the Hyuuga. He had met the previous heads, Hiashi's wife, and so many more people. Now, they stood at the gates waiting for the Sandaime and the next guardian.

All of a sudden, there was a path of dust as a Jonin carrying the Sandaime zoomed into the threshold of the gates. And all of the Hyuuga looked and burst out in laughter.

The Jonin put the Sandaime down and yelled in a loud voice. "Might Guy is here to make the Youthful flames of Naruto Namikaze burn brighter!"

Naruto looked at him in confusion. He said, "Old man, who's this?"

The Sandaime looked up after dusting himself off. "Oh, yes, this is Might Guy. He'll be taking care of you for a week."

"Him?"

"Yes."

Might Guy picked Naruto up and raced to his home, an apartment in the middle of Konoha somewhere.

A week later, Naruto thought back to the events of the past week. It had been hellish. The Jonin had yelled about youth and the flames and all the crap. Yet, he had taken Naruto to Taijutsu training.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang, and Naruto quickly unlocked the door and opened it. To his surprise, there was another Jonin standing there, and his hair was in a pineapple shape.

The Jonin said, "Are you Naruto Namikaze?"

"Yes! And I'm going to become Hokage! Believe it!"

"Yeah, yeah. Guy, I'm taking Naruto. Are you going to see us off?" With that, he took Naruto and pulled him through the doorway before he closed the door, leaving Guy, who was rushing, to slam into the door.

"Let's go, Naruto."

Naruto wondered at this Jonin. He had just pranked another Jonin, albeit a gullible one, so easily. He asked, "What's your name, mister?"

The Jonin said, "My name is Nara Shikaku."

Naruto said, "Is the Nara clan huge? Like the Hyuuga and the Uchiha?"

Shikaku responded, "Not really."

"Oh... So, does the Nara clan have special abilities?"

"Not Kekkei Genkai, which are the Sharingan and the Byakugan, but we have special techniques only we can teach."

"Wow! Does old man Hokage know your cool moves?"

"No, even Hokage-sama does not know these. In fact, the Yamanaka, the Akimichi, and the Hatake, among others, are known for special moves."

"Wow! Is the Chidori the special move for the Hatake?"

"No, Kakashi made that himself."

"So, are we there yet?"

"No."

After several miles of walking, Shikaku finally came to his own doorknob, turned the handle and turned around to see that Naruto wasn't there. He looked back inside to see Shikamaru and Naruto already talking at the breakfast table. He smiled to himself as he sat next to Shikamaru.

**R&R plz. I'm new, so I don't know how to answer or ask questions. Do you just post your email or something?**

**3679 words. Boo Yeah!**


	2. Chapter 2

Deer and Fishcakes

Chapter 2

"I want to live with the Naras, old man!"

Those nine words decided Naruto's fate in the Ninja Academy for the next seven years.

On one particular day in spring, Naruto, wearing a green T-shirt with an orange swirly mark in the middle and black ninja pants, tumbled down the stairs again as he tried to make it to the Academy for something important that he really couldn't remember. Even running through the streets didn't help his memory. He was too lazy to remember anyway.

He just barely caught Shikamaru, who had obviously woken up way too early to start walking, namely twenty minutes before the start of class. Probably went cloud watching...

As he sat down in his seat, he looked at the board to finally realize there was a troublesome graduation exam!

He looked over at Shikamaru, who looked back with the same look of irritation on his face, which hung over his green T-shirt and black ninja pants.

Iruka-sensei now stood up, and announced, "Today will be the graduation exam. We will be testing the Bunshin no Jutsu. When I call your name, you will go through this door to be tested."

Iruka then proceeded to yell out, "Uchiha Sasuke!"

And the parade of graduation started.

Later, Naruto dozed off. Yet, two seconds later, he was to be startled by a yell of "Namikaze Naruto!"

He groaned as he stood up. The class laughed as he stepped through the doorway.

Inside, Iruka and Mizuki sat at a table with bunches of Konoha headbands.

He put his hands together to summon the chakra for a clone, and 20 seconds later, he walked out of the room with a headband on his forehead.

A shout of "Nara Shikamaru" accompanied Naruto out the door. Shikamaru groaned and got up, eliciting the same amount of laughter Naruto had caused before. Shikamaru walked towards Naruto, and said, "Now Dad will want me to pass. Troublesome."

"How much studying did you do yesterday?"

"None."

"Go pass."

And Shikamaru stepped into the testing room while Naruto crept to his seat to continue his nap.

An hour later, Shikamaru and Naruto, both wearing their new forehead protectors on their arms, were awakened to see Iruka holding a ruler above their heads. "I was trying to wake you two up to announce something."

Iruka walked up to the front of the room and said, "Now, you're all Genin of Konoha. Come back here tomorrow at nine o'clock so you can meet your Jonin instructor."

Shikamaru and Naruto stood up amid the cheers that erupted around the room. They quickly leapt out the window to get to their favorite place to watch the clouds before the sun set.

The next day, Naruto and Shikamaru managed to get to the Academy without being tardy. At the door, Haruno Sakura, wearing her usual red, Yamanaka Ino, wearing her usual purple, Aburame Shino, with his goggles and huge jacket, Akimichi Chouji, with his scarf and jacket, Hyuuga Hinata, with her gray jacket and white eyes, and Inuzuka Kiba, with Akamaru on top of his head, were all waiting for them. Six years ago, as soon as greetings such as "Hey" and "H-h-hi" were given, they had become a group of friends. And they were all unique.

Sakura and Ino were eternal rivals and friends, and they both had crushes on Uchiha Sasuke, who, after being Naruto's friend, had clammed up as soon as the Uchihas had been massacred. Naruto had gotten a harsh blow from that, too, but Sasuke's attitude was preposterous.

Chouji loved eating. Shino loved collecting bugs. Kiba was the class clown, and the dead last. Hinata was really shy and not that confident, but they had been helping her work on that. Shikamaru was the laziest person around. Naruto was Rookie of the Year.

A few minutes of joking around, roughhousing, and just being friends, they sat down to hear Iruka say, "I will now announce your teams..."

And he started at Team 1.

When he got to Team 7, he said, "Team 7 will have Namikaze Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura cheered as the other two glanced at each other only to look away again.

The class gasped as they realized that Team 7 had the top three rookies. They shouted, "Why?" and "That's not fair!" Iruka simply ignored them and stated, "Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba." They exchanged looks as Iruka continued.

"Since Team 9 is still in action, Team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru groaned as Chouji opened another chip bag. Ino jumped up and decided to sit next to the snacking Akimichi and the lazy Nara.

Then, Iruka-sensei said, "Team 1 will go to Classroom 1A, 2 to 1B, and so on. You will wait there for you Jonin instructor."

Naruto followed Sasuke and Sakura to Classroom 1G, and they sat down to wait for their Jonin instructor.

A few hours later, Naruto woke up to find that their Jonin instructor still wasn't there. He went back to sleep to be woken up again to see Kakashi poke his head through the doorway. Sakura yelled, "You're LATE!" as Sasuke looked out the window again. After Sakura's outburst, Naruto said, "Late again, Kakashi."

Kakashi looked at Naruto and remembered the energetic blond from seven years to realize that he must have had a severe personality change.

"Meet me on the Academy roof, Genin."

A few minutes later, they were all sitting on the roof. Sakura sat in between Naruto and Sasuke as Kakashi leaned against the railing.

Kakashi said, "How about we introduce ourselves to the others? Say your name, likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies."

Sakura said, "Can you show us?"

Kakashi said, "My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have many dislikes, not so many likes, hobbies... huh, didn't think about that, dreams... my dreams are none of your business."

Naruto laid back, closed his eyes, and said, "Hatake Kakashi, likes reading perverted books, dislikes getting anywhere on time, has a hobby of getting anywhere late, and dreams of his perverted books and his friends from long ago."

Kakashi retorted, "Thanks, Naruto. Then, please introduce yourself."

Naruto sat up and said, "Namikaze Naruto, I like ramen, I dislike the three minutes of time it takes for ramen to be prepared, I also dislike it when Shikamaru kills me in Shogi, and I have a hobby of going outside to train, and my dream is to become the Hokage!"

Sasuke replied, "Fat chance."

Naruto retorted, "Whatever."

Kakashi cut in before the two could go at each other, "Pinkie, you can go now."

Inner Sakura raged at Kakashi, yet Sakura put up a smile and said, "My name is Haruno Sakura, I like... " she looks at Sasuke and blushes, "my hobbies are..." she looks at Sasuke and blushes, "my dream is to... " she looks at Sasuke and blushes.

They all sweat dropped as Kakashi said, "Well, moving on after the fangirl, gloomy one, you're next."

Sasuke said, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, my dislikes are many, likes are less, I have no hobbies, and my ambition is to kill a certain man." Naruto thought, _hope he doesn't mean me..._

Kakashi said, "Now that we're all introduced, I want you to meet me tomorrow at eight o'clock at Training Grounds 7 for our real Genin test. This test will send you back to the Academy if you aren't good enough. Don't eat breakfast, 'cause I guarantee that I'll have you barfing. Just another heads up, but the rate of failure is 66. 67. See ya tomorrow." He Shunshinned out of there as the Genin thought about how they might get sent back to the Academy.

As they departed for lunch, Naruto rushed home to find Shikamaru and Yoshino just digging into some ramen. Naruto said as he shoved a bowlful of ramen into his mouth, "Shikamaru, shogi?"

Shikamaru muttered, "Troublesome."

"Take that as a 'Yes'."

"Troublesome."

"Another 'Yes'."

Naruto raced to get the Shogi board as Shikamaru quickly ate the rest of his lunch to avoid Naruto's energetic tugging. He had already had an incident with the ramen before.

They quickly set up the board as Naruto asked, "So, who is your Jonin sensei? We got this chronically late and perverted one called Hatake Kakashi."

Shikamaru groaned and made the first move. "We got some Jonin who smokes all the time. His name is Sarutobi Asuma."

"No way! He's the Hokage's son!"

"You know him?"

"Yeah, old man Hokage dumped me onto him to learn a few wind jutsus so he can read those perverted books of his."

"Oh, there goes your knight... When are you going to stop challenging me to a game that everyone knows I own?"

"'Cause I need to steal it from you."

"Fat chance."

"That's what Sasuke said when I said that I wanted to be Hokage!"

"That makes two dreams you can never fulfill."

"Yes! Got your rook!"

"Checkmate."

"Awww... c'mon, gotta let up a bit."

"Go do something else. I want to go watch some clouds."

Naruto went outside to go to his own secluded area for training. It was a clearing in the middle of the Nara clan grounds with river cutting in the middle.

There was a problem he decided, after practicing some of his wind Jutsus. A little portion of his chakra was constantly going somewhere. His perfect chakra control meant that he couldn't be using it. What's more, he could sense the Jutsu that was taking it away around his eyes.

Strange, as the source was really weak. He quickly tried to dispel the Jutsu. And it succeeded.

As he stopped pouring chakra into the Jutsu, he came back to reality and discovered that he was breathing heavily and sweating.

He walked to the river and closed his eyes as he washed his face to calm down. He opened his eyes to see something totally stunning. And he realized that there were two sealing Jutsus on top of his eyes.

The next day, Naruto made sure to be extra late to the real test. He knew that Kakashi would be super late. And he was just in time to see Sakura and Sasuke sitting there being bored while the door to the Training Grounds was still locked. He said, "You guys are such idiots. You do know that he's going to come so late..."

"Well, you're late, too." Sasuke retorted.

"Well, I'm technically early."

"Not anymore." Kakashi said as he walked in while reading his book.

Sakura screamed at him, "You're late!"

Kakashi shrugged her yell off as he reached into his pocket to get the key, and then opened the door to Training Grounds 7. The Genins followed him in. Kakashi said, "Now, let's start this test. First let me explain." He pulled out two bells and said, "Now, your goal is to take these bells from me. Whoever doesn't get one goes back to the Academy, and is also tied up to the posts up there. Whoever fails will also watch me eat your lunch in front of you."

Sakura and Sasuke's stomachs growled as Kakashi frowned and said, "Naruto, you didn't follow my advice?"

"What? Dad was serving ramen for breakfast! He's too lazy to cook anything else!"

"Whatever. Ready, set, go!"

Sasuke and Sakura hid in the forest as Naruto sat down to pull out his chakra knives, which were a present from Asuma-sensei. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at him like he was crazy when he stuck them into the ground in front of him. Then, he threw a kunai at Kakashi.

Kakashi thought, _I have to make sure that he doesn't kill someone with those chakra knives._

Kakashi pulled out his own kunai, deflected the kunai, and rushed at Naruto, who looked up in surprise. Naruto's look of surprise changed into a smile as he put his hands together for a Substitution Jutsu. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise as Naruto switched with the kunai. He tried to turn as he passed the chakra knives, but he was stuck in place. And he was forced to put his hands together in a Rat hand sign and stand up straight.

Naruto said, "Kagemane No Jutsu, success. Kakashi, you lose."

"But what are you going to do? You can't turn me around to cut the bells loose without breaking the Jutsu. You're also way too far away."

"Well, first off, you're talking to a clone. Second of all, I suggest you look down."

Kakashi was forced to look down and saw a Naruto tunnel out of the ground. _This is the real Naruto!_ Naruto reached into his pouch, grabbed a kunai, and cut the bells loose. He then retrieved his two chakra knives, ran off, and the clone finally disappeared. Kakashi looked down in horror as he realized that a Genin had beaten him. Sasuke and Sakura were both shocked as their Jonin instructor had been beaten by Naruto, who was only Rookie of the Year because he had an outstanding last-month-performance. The other seven years, he had been a dead last.

Kakashi got over his shock as he said, "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, come back. The test is over."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto jumped into the clearing as Kakashi repeated, "The test is over. The goal of the test was to see your teamwork. You are now Genins of Team 7. Meet here tomorrow at nine for a training session."

"But Sasuke and I did not get a bell." Sakura said.

Kakashi said, "Look in your pouches."

They looked inside their pouches to find a bell. They looked at Naruto as he grinned. "What? You're my comrades and friends. I'm not letting you guys fail!"

Sasuke looked away and said, "Thanks." as he thought, _Saved by Naruto, ugh..._

Sakura enthusiastically said, "Thanks, Naruto!"

Kakashi handed them each a bento box as they sat down to eat lunch. Kakashi Shunshinned out of there to tell the Hokage what had just happened.

A few minutes later, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat at his Hokage desk, in his Hokage robes, with his Hokage pen, doing his Hokage paperwork. Ugh...

His work was disturbed as the window opened to let Kakashi in. Hiruzen asked, "Yes, Kakashi?"

"Hokage-sama, I must ask for your permission for something."

Hiruzen said, "Okay, sure."

Kakashi said, "I want to put my team through training instead of doing the required 10 D-rank missions."

Hiruzen said, "Are they that bad? The top three of the graduating class have to go through your training? Are you serious?"

"No. They're all so good that I need to make sure that they all make Chuunin. Such talent should not be wasted. They may even be better than the Sannin when they were the same age."

Hiruzen said, "That good, huh? They must have beaten you pretty badly."

Kakashi replied, "Only Naruto did anything, and he beat me like I was a Genin facing you. I can imagine the three of them defeating you in a real battle."

Hiruzen said, "I will give your team permission to skip that requirement of the Chuunin exams."

The next day, Naruto trudged into training only to find that Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura were all there. _Kakashi's there! Surprising..._

Kakashi said, "I'll excuse your tardiness for now. Today, we will be training. Actually, we'll be training every day until the Chuunin Exams. No missions. I've gotten Hokage-sama to allow us to train instead of filling the requirement of 10 D-rank missions for the Chuunin Exams."

Sasuke said, "Why?"

Kakashi said, "Because I believe that you three are the next Sannin." And then he eye-smiled.

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke stared at him as he said, "Today, we'll be climbing trees without using your hands before we do anything else. To climb these trees, you need the exact amount of chakra. " Throwing kunai at their feet, "Use these kunai to measure where you get to."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke focused chakra into their feet as Kakashi watched them. Then, they ran at three trees, and Sasuke fell off with too little chakra. Sakura and Naruto kept on running up the tree. Kakashi said, "Now, I know who has the best chakra control here. Naruto, Sakura, get back down here. Sasuke, you keep at your tree until you can hit that first tree branch."

Sasuke bristled in irritation as he tried climbing again and again. _Can't believe that the last of the Uchiha elite can't beat these two..._

Kakashi looked at Sakura and Naruto and said, "You guys have perfect chakra control. So, I'll have you guys try walking on water."

"Try walking across the river over there."

Naruto and Sakura stared at the river and they both focused chakra. Once they had focused enough chakra to their feet, they walked onto the water, and both started to walk across. And made it to the other side.

Kakashi said, "Now walk back."

The two walked back as Kakashi said, "Okay. Now, we'll do some Taijutsu training. Naruto and Sakura, spar." And he left.

Meanwhile, Sasuke had managed to finish the tree walking exercise. Kakashi appeared in front of him and said, "Sasuke, come with me."

Sasuke got up and followed Kakashi to where Naruto and Sakura were sparring. Kakashi said, "Sasuke, go walk across the river and walk back."

Sasuke focused chakra into his feet and walked across and back, and Kakashi said, "Now, let us fight to the death."

Sasuke widened his eyes in surprise, and rushed at Kakashi, pulling a kunai out of his pouch. Kakashi stood there and they dueled with their kunai knives, until Sasuke found an opening to exploit. He dropped the kunai, made a few hand seals, and shot a huge fireball. After the fireball had dissipated, he looked around to see that Kakashi had disappeared. He looked up and all around. In desperation, he activated the Sharingan. Soon, he could see chakra below him as Kakashi grabbed his feet.

Kakashi looked at his eyes and said, "Good, three tomoes. The whole point of this exercise was to try to make you activate the final form of the Sharingan. Now, we can move onto more important things. Naruto, Sakura, stop sparring. Come over here."

Naruto and Sakura stopped swinging their fists and kicking their feet at each other. They walked over as the three Genin faced Kakashi. Kakashi said, "Now, we will work on individual things that I think we should all work on. So, today, we will be going to find two people. This trip will most likely be a week long, so prepare. Go and meet me at the gates at five o'clock."

He then rushed to the Hokage's office as the three Genin ran home to get their stuff.

Hiruzen looked up as Kakashi came in through the window. "Yes, Kakashi?"

"Hokage-sama, I ask for a joint retrieval mission. This mission will be A-Ranked if I am to find both Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama before the Chuunin Exams."

Hiruzen blinked as he realized that Jiraiya and Tsunade were going to retrieved to train Kakashi's group of Genin. _This must be a pretty special group if Kakashi wants to go and sacrifice so much of his time to get those two._

Hiruzen thought about it and said, "Kakashi, I give you permission. You might have to take another Genin team."

"No need.'

"Go."

Kakashi left through the window as the Sandaime sighed and contemplated about the future.

At five o'clock, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stood at the gate as Kakashi appeared in front of them. Naruto said, "You're actually here on time. Again."

Kakashi eye-smiled as he said, "Well, of course. So, our mission is to find two people, both of the Sannin."

Sakura said, "We're going to be finding the Sannin?!"

"Yes. Now, we're going to be finding Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin."

"What about Orochimaru?"

"The Orochimaru was declared a missing ninja a few years ago. And so, we'll be going to Wave Country to find Jiraiya first. He's there, based on the last spy report he sent Konoha."

Naruto yelled, "WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? LET'S JUST GET THERE!"

And they moved out.

That night, they sat down to a dinner of ration bars. Naruto spit some out, said, "GROSS!" and reached into his pack to eat some ramen. As soon as they finished dinner, with Kakashi sitting in the darkness to make sure his face wasn't uncovered, Kakashi passed out pieces of paper and said, "Now, we'll train a bit before setting out tomorrow. Take these slips of paper. These pieces of paper can sense your elemental affinity if you put chakra in them. Wind will make it become two pieces of paper. Lightning will crumple it. Fire will light it on problem. Water will soak it. Earth will cause it to become dust."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura put chakra into their slips of paper. At the end of some struggle, Naruto's had cut in half. Sasuke's had crumpled, then caught on fire. Sakura's had caught on fire and turned into dust at the same time.

"Naruto has wind chakra. Sasuke has fire and lightning. Sakura has fire, water, and earth. And I have lightning. Now, also, keep in mind, that fire beats wind, wind beats lightning, lightning beats earth, earth beats water, and water beats fire. Since Sasuke has lightning, he'll be training with me. Naruto, I'll be training him to use Chidori, and you'll be learning something else. Here's two water balloons, a rubber ball." He handed a water balloon to Naruto.

Naruto said, "What's this for?"

"To learn another A-Ranked Jutsu. It's called the Rasengan, invented by the Fourth Hokage, my sensei. Now, use chakra to burst one water balloon. Then, burst the rubber ball. Then, finally, keep a ball of swirling chakra inside the final water balloon so that you don' burst it. Got it?"

Naruto nodded his head eagerly and ran off to start training.

"Now, Sakura. You will be trained to become a medic ninja. Do you want to?"

Sakura replied, "Umm... Sure?"

Kakashi handed a few scrolls to her and said, "Well, I can't teach you that, but Tsunade will. So, I'll let you know that your elemental affinities are uncommon. They're special. Most ninja clans have Kekkei Genkai, such as the Sharingan, or special Jutsus, but there are also special elemental affinity combinations. Yours is one such combination. As a result, you can use the extra lava and wood elemental affinities. You make lava by putting fire chakra in one hand, and earth in the other. You make wood with water and earth. I'm sorry, but I can't teach you anything else about this, as I don't have a special combination. But I can give you these few scrolls of good Katon, Suiton, and Doton Jutsus. Now, Sasuke, let's go over there."

And training went on like that for two days as they continued to travel to Wave Country. When they finally got to Wave Country's border, Naruto yelled, "DUCK!"

They all ducked as a swirling blade hit the tree behind them. They all saw a Jonin with a Hidden Mist headband standing on top of the sword. His face was bandaged, and his pupils were tiny. Kakashi said, "This is Demon Momochi Zabuza, a missing ninja, a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

"Nice to know that someone knows my name, Copy Ninja Kakashi, holder of the Sharingan, having copied over 1000 Jutsus."

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura looked at him with stunned expressions as they realized that this guy was one of the best. Sasuke thought, _How could someone outside of the clan have the Sharingan?_

Unknown to them, two people observed their fight. One had a huge telescope, and the other had a Kiri hunter ninja mask on.

Naruto quickly formed a few hand seals, and Zabuza had to freeze as his body was trapped. "Kagemane No Jutsu, success. Now, let us pass. We are looking for a certain ninja who we suspect is near here. Have you seen a white haired old man, in his fifties, wearing an Oil forehead protector and red robes?"

The man with the telescope jumped into the scene and said, "Hey, you Leaf ninjas! You looking for me?"

Zabuza said, "Now I have."

Kakashi said, "Jiraiya-sama, you are required by the Hokage to come back to Konoha."

Jiraiya said, "Hey, Kakashi, long time no see! Yeah, I'll come, I'll come!"

All of a sudden, a few senbon pierced through Zabuza's neck as his eyes rolled back in his head. A Kiri hunter ninja appeared. "Thank you for subjugating Zabuza for me. I am ordered to take his head to the Mizukage. So, release him."

"Release him?! Not yet."

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

Naruto said, "Well, I'm waiting for you to cut off his head, burn the rest of his body, and leave with his head."

The Kiri ninja took off his mask and said, "Dang it, my cover has been blown."

Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Naruto, and Jiraiya looked at the Kiri ninja. He looked exactly like a girl, but was definitely a boy.

"You're not a hunter ninja from Kiri, are you?"

"No. I'm guessing that you knew that we had to destroy the body on site, right?"

"Well, duh. What's your name?"

The Kiri ninja said, "My name is Haku."

Kakashi said, "Well, come with us to Konoha, Haku. You have no home here."

"My home is with Zabuza-san, so if he comes with you, then, I am going, too."

Jiraiya then said, "Haku, can you go kill Gatou?"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura asked, "Who's that?"

"He has been using money to obtain Wave Country, and he makes it so that Wave Country cannot trade. If we don't help them finish a bridge that they are building, then Wave Country will be stuck in poverty. And Gatou has been sending armed thugs at them to make sure they don't finish it."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at each other and said, "Sure!" in their respective ways.

"Well then, let's move out. Kakashi, you stay here with Zabuza. Haku, you have an assasination to make. Kids, you're coming with me."

They moved out.

**Still don't know how to answer and ask questions. From now on, I might randomly spout out news like how Dwight Howard just got traded to the Lakers, the London Summer Olympics just ended, with the US on top of the medal count and in the gold, silver, and bronze medal counts (Yeah!), and Google cut hundreds of jobs in Motorola. This might be a while ago, but scientists now have a lazer that makes some number times the amount of energy the US makes per year. Something like that. Not a nerd. 4482 words!**


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